The job of Crime Analyst is the best job in law enforcement according to Danny Santos, 10 year veteran Crime Analyst Supervisor with APD.   Sharing his free time on a sunny Saturday afternoon, he made it clear that he takes great pride in the work and career path that he has chosen.  The following is taken from the presentation materials compiled by the crime analyst staff.

First of all, when many people think of crime analysts, images of Hollywood and TV come to mind.   Although Danny says some were inspired by Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs, these images are NOT what they are about.  They have no hummers, guns or crime scene labs to do their work.  They are not like the FBI profilers.

There are however, many diverse backgrounds that have led to crime analyst careers at APD:  former military, ex-police officers, degrees ranging from Criminal Justice to Geography and even Literature.  It is considered a civilian position so they carry no badge or gun.  Assignments can include working on robbery, cold case, rape, auto theft, burglary, and aggravated assault among others.  

What is Crime Analysis?   Read On . . . .

When Laura DiCarlo moved to Austin from Oxford, MS, she longed for the small town feel of her former home  - the kind of dynamic where everybody knows you and pulls together.

It started with wanting some crime watch signs for her street but it's been a two year journey since taking the safety coordinator reins.  She began by revitalizing her neighborhood watch program.  First, she obtained maps of her neighborhood and plotted an ambitious drive to add more block captains to her roster.    With roughly 1000 households plus numerous apartments, Laura actually set a goal to cover the entire neighborhood with registered block captains, 10 houses at a time. 

The first block captains signed up on election day 2008 outside Gullett Elementary where she set up a table and canvassed.  She now places a Neighborhood watch table at all Allandale events.

Over the long haul, a steady stream of reminder messages including kudos to the streets that were completely covered by block captains, coupled with timely alerts about the increase in burglaries, brought more and more people into the fold.  The total of block captain volunteers now stands at 90.

Over the last year, plenty of stories were told about break-ins.  There were also successes where neighbors foiled burglaries in progress.  This rallied the troops!  But in spite of their best efforts, last year proved to be quite a challenging year.  They were still being hit by burglaries at a rate far higher than 2008.  Several of her block captains attended the first CLASP meet and were inspired by the presentation given by John Luther of Barton Hills on his neighborhood watch patrols. 

The Ripple Effect of CLASP and the Home Safety Audit Party  Read on....

Robertson Hill Neighborhood in Central East Austin, is the epitome of the old and new influences that are melding into a new era for an historic part of our city.  Mary Helen Lopez, of Robertson Hill detailed her childhood in a nearby neighborhood and how the close-knit community and involvement in civic affairs shaped her choices later in life.   She works now to carry on that same tradition in her current neighborhood with an emphasis on safety and crime prevention.  She is a current board member of the Central East Austin Weed and Seed Program.

Some of the vacant houses in the area have been slated for restoration, but while waiting for that to happen, and to discourage vandalism and neglect, a mural project was proposed as a way to brighten up the area and show care and concern for the historic properties.   The neighborhoods were recipients of a Keep Austin Beautiful Grant.

<-----Click on photo for slideshow of murals

Volunteers for the project were recruited by the neighborhood association to organize the project components that included preparation of materials for the murals, construction of the mural framework and judging of the submitted artwork. Valerie Thatcher, founder and past president of Anderson Hill NA was a featured artist and key to overseeing the project through to completion.  The dedication ceremony was held the morning of Feb 27th.

Lori C-Renteria has been a well known advocate in her East Austin community for more than two decades.  Her efforts in developing solutions to neighborhood crime problems goes back to the early 90's when the gangs first became more prevalent in our schools.  Violence rocked this neighborhood as five young people were shot at Martin Park behind the the school in a drive-by.

Living directly across from Martin Jr. High, Lori witnessed first-hand

how children were showing signs of being influenced by gang activity and life styles.  She personally knew many of the kids and understood their backgrounds and how peer pressure could sway their daily choices of behavior. 

Back then, APD and AISD did not have well developed programs to deal with this influence.  There was also a misinformed notion that wearing certain colors could be automatically tied to kid's affiliations with a gang.  She attended a conference on gangs where UT professor Dr. Hauser challenged the audience to consider the difference between UT fraternities and Eastside youth gangs.  Both tag with unreadable symbols, have handsigns, and prefer to wear certain colors.  Lori clearly saw that the community divide between APD and East Austin could be healed.  This moment of insight was the inspiration she needed to bring together police, educators, and wanna-be gangsters to do what UT students have been doing for a long time: providing community service projects for their community under the direction of caring adults.

She formed ESOS - Educating Students through Opportunity & Service.  Project ESOS included an organized summer youth employment program and supportive after school activities that gave students the attention they needed and steered them towards more positive experiences helping each other and the community.   The side benefit was that police developed a connection through the schools to troubled teens and their families and it had a positive effect on their academics - within six weeks of the summer program, many of these kids were tracking at a higher performance rate in school than their peers who were not leaning towards the gang culture.

The City of Austin Public Safety Commission is an advisory body to the city council on all budgetary and policy matters concerning public safety, including matters related to the Austin Police Department, the Austin Fire Department, and the Austin/Travis County Emergency Medical Services Department. They make recommendations on matters related to long-range comprehensive planning initiatives, access to and expenditure of state and federal grant funds, and other related public safety matters.